Comparison of Newspaper Articles

Comparison of Newspaper Articles

I have chosen two articles about the same story from two contrasting

newspapers, one a tabloid and one a broadsheet. The tabloid I have

chosen is The Mirror and the broadsheet is The Times. Both articles

are taken from the papers of Tuesday 22nd October 2001. They cover the

story about the outbreak of Anthrax in Washington DC where two postal

workers died.

I think the Mirror is aimed at people who do not want to read the news

in great detail and just want to know the essential facts. I think

this because of the language used, sensational headlines and startling

pictures. The Times on the other hand tends to present the facts in a

more informative way being geared towards people who are willing to

spend a lot more time reading the articles.

The headlines of the articles are very different, in both layout and

in language. The headline in The Mirror is written in a very large

font, it is bold, is written in capitals and is very eye catching. It

takes up approximately 50% of the space given for the article. On the

other hand the headline in The Times is written in a much smaller

font, is longer, written in lower case letters and only takes up

approximately 20% of the space which is given for this article.

The headline in The Mirror reads "ANTHRAX: 2 MORE DIE" The word

"anthrax" is on its own, on the top line this makes the word menacing

and intimidating because when people see "anthrax" they think of a

deadly disease and biological warfare. These things are very

frightening for the public. "2 MORE DIE" this is a use of emotive

language used to attract the reader to the story.

The headline i...

... middle of paper ...

... that the two deaths

were caused by inhaled anthrax and that he said "Obviously we're very

concerned." The Times in paragraph four quotes Dr Ian Walks, the

city's chief health officer as having said that after three weeks of

scares the concern over bio-terrorism had suddenly entered a more

ominous phase. This again shows that The Times uses more sophisticated

vocabulary than The Mirror.

In conclusion presentation and style are important aspects of both

broadsheet and tabloid newspapers. Tabloids use sensational headlines

and photographs to attract their audience, whereas the broadsheet

newspapers rely on factually sound and detailed content to satisfy

their readers. Tabloids often present their audience with a particular

conclusion. On the other hand broadsheets leave their audience to make

an informed judgement.